Understanding the need for client-side attacks

In the previous chapter, we used the MS08_067net api vulnerability in our target system to gain complete administrator-level access to the system. We configured the value of the RHOST variable as the IP address of our target system. Now, the exploit was successful only because the attacker's system and the target system were both on the same network (the IP address of the attacker's system was 192.168.44.134 and the IP address of the target system was 192.168.44.129).

This scenario was pretty straightforward, as shown here:

Figure 6.1 – Attack Scenario

Now consider the scenario shown in the following figure. The IP address of the attacker's system is a public address, and he is trying to exploit a vulnerability on a system that is not in the same network. Note that the target system, in this case, has a private IP address (10.11.1.56) and is NATed behind an internet router (88.43.21.9x...